I have seen a few blog posts knocking around lately speaking about the pastor as a therapist or counsellor. I thought it might be worth sharing a small section of something I wrote that speaks directly into this.
As you may know, I have a book on eldership coming out later on in the year. I am led to believe it may be available from the autumn. I thought it might be worth sharing a small section from one chapter that directly addresses this question of the pastor as counsellor.
It is as follows:
It has become increasingly common for pastors to be viewed
as de facto counsellors today. It is not at all uncommon to hear
people insist that somebody is an excellent Bible teacher but not
very ‘pastoral’. Biblically, this does not compute. Pastors shepherd
through the word. They lead by teaching the word. They may do
that from the front in the pulpit, in Bible studies elsewhere or by
informally applying the Scriptures to people’s lives. Whatever the
forum, the task of pastoring God’s people is to teach the word
and apply it to the situations of the people in front of us. The very
act of sitting with someone, reading the Scriptures and showing
them ‘this is what that is saying you ought to do in your particular
situation’ is the very definition of being pastoral. Yet, what people
often want – and mean when they say pastoral – is that they want
a personal counsellor.Helpful as counselling can be, that is not the fundamental task
of pastoral ministry nor a qualification for being a church elder. We
are not called to minister as those able to soothe troubled minds
nor are we called to be a sounding board for people’s problems. For
this, you need a psychiatrist or qualified counsellor, not a pastor.
As someone who has written a book about mental health, and who
still suffers from depressive illness and is a serving pastor, I know
most elders and pastors are not qualified to deal with these things.
Elders are qualified as those able to teach sound doctrine and apply
the Scriptures to people’s lives. That is the biblical requirement
on them; it is what they are appointed to do, and it is how elders
shepherd the church of God. Elders are, fundamentally, teachers.The problem is that many confuse pastoring with counselling.
Counsellors exist to help people frame and manage their internal,
subjective perspectives on the world. They help people to explore
their thoughts, feelings and behaviours as a means of addressing
emotional and psychological issues. Counsellors do not give
you their own opinions and advice; they help you find your own
solutions to your problems. They are reflective listeners aiming to
help you think through your issues and resolve them yourself. By
contrast, elders are shepherds who shepherd by teaching the word
and instructing God’s people in what he says. They give us God’s
perspective on ourselves, how we should relate to him and how
we should relate to the world. They bring the objective, external
word of God to bear on our lives. They point to what God says and
apply the Scriptures to our lives in ways that are binding because,
if they’re right, God has said these things and wants you to respond
rightly to them. Counsellors reflect; pastors instruct. If someone
tells you what you should do, they are not offering counselling. If
someone fails to tell you what God’s word says you should think,
feel or do, they are not pastoring.This is why it is so important to understand what elders are
qualified to do and what counsellors are qualified to do. To put
it bluntly, pastors simply aren’t trained to do what counsellors
are trained to do and most of them are not capable of doing it. If
you need someone to listen to you and help you rationalise your
thoughts and emotions, a trained counsellor is what you need.
Counsellors will serve you best when you need an outside party
to help you rationalise your perspective and realise solutions to
your emotional and psychological problems. By contrast, pastors
will serve you best when you want to know what God’s word says,
how it applies to you and what you need to do in relation to it. They
will point you to Jesus through his word and instruct you in what
he says. There is nothing more pastoral than a pastor telling you
exactly what God’s word says to you, about you and for you.I realise this is a huge topic. Space doesn’t allow us to do it
justice here and nor is it within this book’s remit. By only touching
upon it, I don’t wish to oversimplify or dismiss the issues involved;
quite the opposite! I hope to flag it up as a serious and significant
issue which should not be glossed over. Instead, it should be given
the time and space it deserves in a book of its own.
[1] Kneale, S. (ed.), The pastor with a thorn in his side: stories of ministering with depression and what the church can do to help, Grace Publications, Great Britain, 2021
Some helpful points for discussion. As you say, it’s a big/complex subject. The key benefits of a professional counsellor are I would say first the accreditation and supervision. Second that there will be with the right person specific expertise which is crucial when there are complex mental health factors. Actually that expertise eg around trauma or physiological/medical factors might not be there with a generalist talk therapist either. Your section as it stands could give the impression that we are unconcerned about emotions. That certainly can be the case with some pastoring but if we preach to the affections, we also pastor to them one to one. The difference is not that we offer our own directive answers (a lot of counselling methods are subtle but still directive) but that rather our emotions are shaped by God’s word rather than our own decisions or an underlying philosophy.
I’m certainly not aiming to give the impression we don’t care about emotions. But I do maintain that – even when we speak to the emotions – pastors are primarily there to tell people what the Bible says about them. Counselling, as I understand it, would be more concerned about reflecting back to you your thoughts and emotions so you can manage them and find solutions to any mismanagement of them.
I think that’s the primary distinction I make. Obviously that discussion is part of a wider chapter that is about the work of elders/pastors. It is in the section centred on teaching. The context is to the effect that pastors are teachers and their role is not to reflect back to you so you can find solutions to problems (material, emotional or physical) but to more directly bring God’s external, objective view of you to bear.
Yep appreciate your answering a slightly different question to the one that is coming up now. It is maybe worth a tweak because a lot of conservative Evangelical pastoral approaches do seem to run away from emotions and I suspect that one factor in people not being seen as pastoral is around tone. Incidentally whilst some counselling methods announce themselves as non directive there is often a gentle move to direction and it is possible to draw a person to God’s Word that is about helping them to see it for themselves